Honeybees! We hope you are doing well and you are ready to open your heart and ears to new music, especially a new singer-songwriter we have fallen in love with. Diana Goldberg is based in Berlin but makes music headed for the entire world. From the first listen we knew Diana puts a lot of thought and personal experiences into her music and lyrics.
This makes us even more excited to be able to talk to Diana about her newest single ‘Alleviate’ and more of her music in this exclusive interview. Her pen is obviously unique and so is her low-key but catchy pop sound. Read on to also fall in love with the young singer!
Hey Diana! It’s a pleasure to get to talk to you today, especially about your new single ‘Alleviate’ which made us tear up as it seems like a deeply personal song to you. We know the song lyrics came to you very quickly but what was the first line of lyrics you had for this single?
The first line that I had was the line in the chorus – “can I hold you to alleviate the pain in your mind”. However, I later changed “mind” to “dark”. Only after letting the song sit for a while and relistening to it, I changed the word “mind” into “heart”, and that’s what you hear today because it made more sense to me with the lyrics that are coming afterward: “Can I see you, see you one more time, I won’t leave you, leave you in the dark”.
Okay, we can’t help but love your outfit in the music video for ‘Alleviate’ especially since you are wearing such a cool corset! What was your inspiration for this outfit? Any fashion tips for us fashion noobs?
Thank you so much!! The corset is by Haderlump and the pants are from Maria Chany – both are new labels from Berlin. I love fashion and I’m constantly looking for new upcoming designers to collaborate with and find unique pieces that express me and my music. My stylist found these pieces but originally it wasn’t planned to put everything together in one outfit. But then I paired the corset with the pants and once I put it on it felt like it was made for me…
The inspiration behind my outfit: The corset represents the feeling of trying to hold something together. For example, pain that is bottled up and being kept in our bodies. The mirror material in the corset reflects yourself looking at me – so while you are staring at me and my emotions, you also see yourself in it and your emotions that are held within you.
I just think being curious about mixing and matching pieces together without judging the look and then looking at how clothing makes you feel, helps you find your own style. My advice is to wear at least one piece each day that makes you feel confident – for me that’s my jewelry.
We admire your writing talent and how bold and straightforward your lyrics are. If you had to come up with a line of lyrics to summarize your feelings today what would it be?
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! That’s such a difficult question for me, I could probably straight up write you a song about my feelings today and come up with 100 melodies but would not be able to talk about it.
I use songwriting as well as a process to analyze my own feelings and thoughts. After writing a song, I usually know better how I am actually feeling and how to express myself.
It’s hard for me to come up with lyrics straight away, since I need to be in a specific setting to write songs, taking my time to be fully present and forget everything that is happening around me. So instead, I’ll quote my song ‘Dripping in my blood,’ specifically the line “you don’t know me babe.” No matter how many times I fall, I get back up one more time – that’s my current state of mind.
Out of all of your songs the one that stood out to us the most on the first listen was ‘Game Over.’ We are pretty much obsessed with the hook and yelling “G A M E O V E“ at the top of our lungs. What’s the story behind this song? Any fun recording anecdotes to share?
I love gaming and I’m a big fan of hiding gems in my productions. Especially in this song, my producer Joseph Feinstein and I hid so many easter eggs, so that I can take my listeners on a treasure hunt and they can literally listen to the song 10 times in a row and only then hear or discover the hidden sounds. For example, when I sing “you’re so pathetic, selling me out for credits” – you can hear the sound of coins falling down in the production after “credits.” I’m such a big nerd about these things and feel like hiding sounds that fit the meaning of the song, increases the level of depth of the song and I love to play around with that.
The story is about my ex. We were in an on-off kind of relationship which was super toxic. I wrote the song on the day we broke up. I wanted to remind myself of having the final word, never again allowing anyone such disrespectful behavior, and never taking him back. I clearly wanted to state that it is over – this is how the hook was born – “G A M E O V E.” I left out the last letter on purpose for all of the ons and offs in the past.
As someone who is currently based in Berlin, how would you say the city has helped you grow into the artist you are?
Berlin is definitely a very inspiring city. Most of my collaborators are based here. I feel like the city is actually the one that makes or breaks relationships – I figured out a lot about myself and who I want to surround myself with while living here. Living in Berlin tests your boundaries, and it made me even more independent and confident than I was. I really enjoy taking time for myself and exploring the city by myself. Last week I went to the cinema alone for the first time and I go to museums regularly, listening to my demos while looking at 300-year-old pictures. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I’m living in a movie and every day another miracle happens to me. There’s so much inspiration in the city and the sound of Berlin is the one of freedom.
You have Latvian roots, has this influenced your approach to music in any way? Are there any traditional Latvian music genres you’d like to try out?
The way I grew up was not to talk about my inner feelings. As a sensitive person who feels deeply, that was very challenging for me. In my teens, I started to write songs in English so that my parents wouldn’t understand what I sing about. That connection with my piano helped me open up and made me understand my feelings and vulnerability. I think it made me stronger as a person and helped me understand myself better. To this day, this core experience still inspires me to do music – I want to break taboos for me and my listeners and show everyone that it is okay not to be okay and to not judge yourself for your feelings (whether positive or negative), but rather experience your emotions in the full spectrum because that’s what makes your life lively I guess.
As far as Latvian music genres, maybe folklore or fantasy one day!
Blossom In The Dark was your first EP and it has aged very well, we have it on repeat as we speak. And we are obsessed with the color concept of the cover art. What was the inspiration behind it? Do songs have different colors to you?
That makes me so happy to hear!! Yesss absolutely. I do connect music with colors, maybe that’s why I am fascinated by patterns and colors in fashion, too.
Darkness is never completely dark for me, I always see different colors depending on my mood and that is something that I wanted to reflect in all the colors of my three singles that I released as part of my EP BLOSSOM IN THE DARK.
‘SAME OLD SORRY’ is a clear red for me because of the emotions I felt and the music. Then ‘FOCUS’ is pink and strong. It reflects being independent but also vulnerable and hurt. At last ‘DRIPPING IN MY BLOOD’ is blue for me – reflecting hope and the strength you find within yourself when you’re at your lowest.
Speaking of colors, what color does ‘Alleviate’ have to you? What do you want your listeners to take away from it the most?
‘Alleviate’ is white for me. Don’t ever feel bad for being empathetic and having a good heart. Even if people took advantage of you, don’t let anyone ever dim the light of your spirit. Last year was really tough for me and I wrote this song about my dad’s health condition, while I was at his side in the hospital. I hope, ‘Alleviate’ will bring some peace to anyone who is going through something similar – I understand their pain and I wish to take away not only my dad’s pain with this song.
Since we now have Diana Goldberg on our playlist we were wondering what’s on Diana’s playlist.
At the moment I’m listening to Lewis Capaldi and Billie Eilish.
And lastly, since you grew up playing the piano, which one of your songs do you think would work best as a piano version? What is your favorite classical piece to play?
Actually, all of my songs work best as a piano version because I compose them on the piano. For my live shows, I actually blend classical music with my pop songs a lot. Classical music accompanied me since the age of 5. At a certain point, I had to stop because of the pressure that came with performing in classical piano competitions. But last year I rediscovered my passion for classical music and started to sing my songs over them when I rehearsed them, kind of like a cover version – my mom hated it. This inspired me to experiment with new possibilities, blending my music with my background in classical piano. I don’t like to be told what’s possible and what is not, so I create my own rules. so this is how I started, mixing ‘Fantasie Impromptu’ by Chopin with my song ‘BLACKBLUEYELLOW’ about perfectionism, because nothing in life is ever perfect and we make up our own rules.
What do you think, bees? Do you see the same colors as Diana when you listen to her songs? Did you cry like us when you hear ‘Alleviate?’ Let us know in the comments, or find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @thehoneypop!
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